week ending 3.20.11

Hey everyone!

Well this week was a short one for me. I have been working to lighten the weight of having the 2 sectors now and it's going well - so well that we are going to have 2 baptisms this weekend! I am so excited! Their names are Guisselle(16) and Jordan(10) they are brother and sister and they are so great! They love going to church and are so pumped for their baptism. This weekend they couldn't go to church and we passed by in the evening and they told me that they felt so bad that they couldn't go to church. Now think about this: 2 kids that aren't members missed a day of church and felt bad, and how many of us that are members miss a day and don't think twice. We have something so special but sometimes we don't see it. I invite all of you that missed a day of church to say sorry to the Lord and make it there this Sunday because it's something so little but so important in our lives! And I got taught that by two kids here in Chile. We can be taught by anyone and anywhere!

I would like to share with you this story that the mission president shared with us that teaches us some important principles:

The Silent Lesson

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going.  After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.  Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor made himself at home but said nothing.  In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs.  After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation.  As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more.  Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.  The pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave.  He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire.  Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave his host said, with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday”.

Like before if we are going out just a little our fire goes out, but when we get put back in the fire we can catch fire so fast and just take off!

Well if you have anything you would like to know about Chile or my mission ask me because I am running out of things to write. haha. Thanks.

I love you all and have a good week.  I hope this message helped you in some way.

love,

Elder Christensen

week ending 8.29.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week I hit the one year mark in the mission and it was lame and hard. But my companion made me a little surprise and put stuff on my bed like you can see in the photos.

He is a great companion helping me remember that I am half way done. I think my family is more excited than me, because I don't want it to end. haha.

I'll tell you about something that happened to me and something that I learned this morning:

I have been having a hard time lately and I have found out why. I am reading in 1 Nephi 8 where it talks about the iron rod. I have followed the rod to the fruit and now I am ashamed.  (1 Nephi 8:25).

like what it says in the Bible;

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.....

2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,....

We shouldn't be ashamed of our testimonies and the gospel of Christ. I think I am ashamed because I love the world more at this time. So I need to forget the world and not be ashamed.

There is some strong quest in Mormon 8:38 .....Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies--because of the praise of the world? The one that hit me the most was ...because of the praise of the world.  Man that's me.  I have been searching for the praise of the world. That will only take me to an endless misery - so something needs to change.

There is a lot more to my study about this topic and man, I learned so much that I need to learn to love the fruit and not be ashamed of what I believe and stand up strong against the world. I love the gospel - it's changing me so much.  I am becoming a new person every day.

So I have a testimony that we need to build our testimonies upon the rock, (Christ) and when we do that - when the devil comes to get us we will be ready for the attack. Thanks for supporting me for this year and all the prayers that you have sent my way. Now if you could keep Leti and Guillarmine in your prayers it would be great - thanks!

love you all.

Love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 8.8.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week has been a good week, I have learned a lot about myself. I was talking to my companion this morning and I am sure of it now, I am sure that I am sensitive and that's just how I am. And I don't care what people say, I am going to be the nice guy. Even though the world puts in our minds "nice guys finish last" we will see who finish last after this life haha. Sorry that was bad. =)  But I was trying to understand how I can be a strong person without being mean or hurtful and I think I found it or maybe not. haha. I have been searching for this answer for a long time now and I keep finding little things here and there, but I will find it.

This Sunday the family we have been teaching went to church and they liked it.  So that was the highlight of my week even though we missed the sacrament because we went to their house to walk with them but they decided to be slow, so I was like, "oh no, let's go." But I was just being nice and telling them you have a little bit more time. Next week I will get them to church on time. Make sure you put them in your prayers please. (Cristian, Carolina, Janaby.)

I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I came along a scripture that made me think and troubled me. It was in, 2 Nephi 6:14

 "And behold, according to the words of the prophet, the Messiah (Christ) will set himself again the second time to recover them; wherefore, He will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day cometh when they shall believe in Him; and none will He destroy that believe in Him."

I was thinking what does it mean "to believe in him." Because everyone says that they believe in Christ so does that mean all will be saved? Now you can see the predicament I was in this morning. haha. So I went to something that's called the study guide (or see D&C 20:29) that's in the Spanish scriptures and I read about "believe" and it brought up 2 things that stuck out to me. "Faith and Repentance" so I was like how can I put those with believing, well lets see how I did. haha.

•Faith- a part that talks about the true faith and what happens when people have faith and when they don't. When people have faith they repent and do good for others and do the things that Christ and God ask them to do. When people don't have faith they fall in to iniquity (Moroni 10:22). But what is faith? Well, if we read Ether 12:6 it teaches us what is faith and how we gain it. That faith is things that we can't see, and we gain it after our tests. And if you can prove that wrong, your good. But good luck.

•Repentance- to repent is a change of heart and of how we think. But a "true repentance is born for the love of the Lord and the true desire to obey the Lords Comandments" (study guide in Spanish pg. 20)

in Alma 42: 16 teaches us that we will not repent of our sins until we get punished, it's true no one will repent until they feel bad or someone tells them that, that is bad.

In 2 Nephi 9:22 we learn that if we become like little kids and repent, Christ will let us in, so we need to be humble and become like little kids.

In Moroni 6:8 tells us that God will forgive us every time we repent so we can repent every second and we will be forgiven. It's cool! haha.

So that's what I learned and I know what I learned is the truth and I am going to study this more because I don't feel happy with my answer. haha. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true church on the earth. It has been a battle for me to get that testimony, but I got it and I will never lose it.

And for my sickness last week, I had a cold or something like that. But it lasted for a day or 2 and now I am good and lovin' life. haha.

Love you all and thanks for your time and prayers.

Love,

Elder Christensen

week ending 8.1.10

Hey everyone,

 

I was having a good week and then I got sick and I was told to stay in the house. So that brought my spirits a little down, but I was talking to a member one night and she was asking some questions. I started to receive thoughts that weren't mine, I knew that they came from my Heavenly Father.  I told her that when we are going through hard times we need to be happy, because, when we are sad, satan is attacking us because he knows that we are doing something good. He is going to do everything he can to bring us down and not enjoy what we are doing. So next time you are having a hard time, go to our Heavenly Father and ask for strength to overcome satan and enjoy the good things in life. And then another thing came into my head - it was a scripture from the Bible, James 2:26.  It talks about that our faith is dead if we don't have works.  Works are those little things we do, for example, pray every day, read the scriptures, go to church, follow the commandments, try and become like Christ every day, set goals, forgive others, and most of all forgive ourselves. If we can do some of those little things everyday we will have stronger faith. I know this because I have been putting this in practice and it has been working for me. I know that this is true, I know the Church of Jesus Christ is the true church on the earth. I will tell anyone that, that I come in contact with. I love my Savior.

 

love,

Elder Christensen

week ending 7.18.10

Hey everyone,

 

This week was great, I have been growing so much. I have learned that I am in one of the biggest tests of my life, I have a lot of responsibility and I haven't been really used to having so much to worry about. But this is teaching me so much to get me ready for the life after the mission. And I have realized that I am getting converted to the gospel still, I have a strong testimony but I am missing something and I have been doing the small things that we need to do to find and fill those things that we are missing.

 

First, we need to read the scriptures everyday and apply them to our lives.

Second, we need to pray everyday and ask for help and follow what the spirit tells us to do.

Third, meditate what we have read and learned and pray again.

Fourth, go to church every Sunday, not only to go but with a question or a doubt that we might have and search for the answer.

 

I know if we can do these 4 small things we can have the help of the Holy Ghost in our lives so much stronger and we will know what we need to do. I have a scripture for you all, 1 Nephi 17:13:

"And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

 

I love this scripture, it has been a helping hand for me in the hard times. I know that the Savior is our light and he has made a path for us, we just need to follow what he wants us to do and we will be lead by him. I know this is the true church on the earth and that Christ lives and has his Prophet Thomas Monson to help us in the hard times. I love this Gospel, it has changed my life and it's still changing.

 

Thanks for all the help everyone and for your prayers. Have a good week.

 

Love,

Elder Christensen

week ending 6.13.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week my companion and I made a lot of progress in our sector and we are working hard to find those people that want to find the path of Christ. We have been teaching the members a little about Christ this week, and one of the scriptures we have been using is in 2 Nephi 31:21.  It talks about Christ and how he is the only way and he only has the true doctrine. It has been hard for me to understand how some people don't understand what I understand, I have been learning how to just share how I feel and what I have recived from Christ through my prayers. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the path of Christ, and I don't learn that because someone told me that, I learned for myself. Through my studies, my prayers, my testimony, etc.

This week we got to go to the temple, oh man what a wonderful place. I think that is the best place to be in the world. When I was in there I felt a peace that you can't feel anywhere else. I know that is the house of the Lord, and he walks through his house. But I didn't want to leave after all was done, I wanted to stay there for ever! But we need to go out into the world and face those challenges that await us. I heard a saying this week, "I believe in Christ, so come what may." I have been trying to have this vision in my mission, hopefully I can get it soon. haha.

Well I am excited for this week to come, I am going to put everything I have into it. Thanks for your prayers that push me along everyday. I love you all. Have a good week.

Elder Christensen

week ending 4.25.10

Hey everyone,

Well, I really don't know what to say this week, nothing really happened that is really worth writing about.  So I am going to write my testimony....

I know that this church is true - that no other church in the world has the priesthood power to save and bless people.  That this power was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, under the direction of Jesus Christ.  I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and there are 5 things we need to do to receive eternal life, salvation, blessings and help from out Heavenly Father:

1. have faith in Christ.

2. repent for our sins

3. be baptized, in the way Christ was baptized (the age of responsiblity, emersion, priesthood power).

4. receive the Holy Ghost.

5. endure to the end, (10 commandments, repent, go to church every Sunday and partake of the sacrament.)

I know if we do these things we will live with our families after this life and also with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ.  Life is simple, when we put our faith and our confidence in Christ we will get through everything. I know that the plan of salvation is true, I know that we are on the earth for a reason and when we have completed our task, our Father in Heaven calls us home.  It might not be the way we want to go but it's the way that was planned for us.  I know that my family members that have died are waiting for me and helping me out in my mission. 

I love my Heavenly Father and my brother Jesus Christ, my testimony is the strongest it's ever been.  I love doing the work of the Lord. I don't have doubts that this is the only true church of Christ. I want to share this testimony with every person.

I love you all and thank you for your support.  Have a good week and we will talk next week.

love,  Elder Christensen

week ending 2.21.10

Hey Everyone,

Okay - this week was a good one, well a good one to test my faith. I took this test by the horns and lived it up and learned a lot. I love doing this work, sometimes you don't see the good stuff right off the bat but we need to have faith and hope that it will come in the future. And I have learned that I need to have hope and use my faith to show that I have hope that God will give me help with every thing. I have been trying to become the missionary that my Father wants me to be.

week ending 1.17.10

Hey everyone,

Well today I sent my companion home, yep that's right, my trainer left me so I am getting a new comp today. I am going to miss Elder Davies, he helped me so much and I am glad he was my trainer. chow Elder Davies.

Okay this was a tough week for me and Elder Davies because our investigator, Estefy, decided that she didn't want to get baptized anymore. She loves the church and everything. We spent 4 hours this week with her trying to figure out what happened. She had so many different stories and stuff. But we went to talk with her family and we found out that her sister has been telling her bad things about our church and that she shouldn't get baptized. That was tough for us to hear. We tried to straighten things out with everyone but it didn't work. So that was tough.